Proaso
Proaso S.A. born from an association between 16 companies in the sector. The firm is named Proaso SA, which has already reserved land in the Armstrong industrial area. Start The prototype would be finished within a year. An association between 16 companies of the cluster of agricultural machinery, most of them located in Armstrong, advances in the project of manufacturing a new Argentine harvester from 2006. For this purpose, the company was founded, which bears the name of Proaso SA, and which is currently in the development stage of the prototype, which is expected to end next year. The project is very useful for the national economy, since currently Argentina produces, according to official data of the first half of 2005, only 24% of what is sold in the domestic market. The rest is imported, mainly from Brazil. The information was confirmed by Rogelio Magnoni, head of Armstrong's Erca seeding company, and at the same time president of Proaso SA, and Miguel Degra, manager of the Armstrong Commercial and Industrial Center. About the harvester 28 feet of cut Although it is not yet defined the brand that would go to market, this new harvester will have 28 feet of cutting and is about to define an agreement with Scania for the provision of the engine, which will have between 260 and 320 HP and that will be brought from Sweden and through Brazil. The harvester, therefore, will not be among the largest in the world, since in South America there are no engines of 400 HP to have between 35 and 40 feet of cutting, as they are being manufactured in Denmark, Germany, Canada and the United States. However, in the southern cone there are engines of sufficient power, such as the Cummins, BMW M and Scania, which adapt perfectly to the conditions of these fields. In effect, the new harvester is designed to meet the needs of the Argentine countryside, first, although it is also intended to export at a later stage. It is made with the idea of an unconventional threshing system, which Case brought to Argentina more than 15 years ago, but whose patent has expired. Argentine machinists had worked hard on that system and had managed to improve it. The project An old project The project is an old aspiration of the cluster of agricultural machinery, which initially was born as an association between 34 companies of Las Parejas and Armstrong but that, by virtue of a split, is now driven by 16, most of Armstrong, although with others of Tortugas, Fuentes and San José de la Esquina. "The idea is to have the prototype ready next year to prove it," said Magnoni, "but we do not want to create false expectations either". For the time being, there is a group of machinists and researchers working on the project and a reservation of land was already made in the industrial area to locate the production plant, which according to estimates still in the air, could produce 300 units in 5 years, which would position it among the leaders of the national market. "We can not talk about production capacity yet, it's getting too far ahead", said Magnoni, who clarified that "it is very difficult for us, SME entrepreneurs, to talk and think in terms of large companies". Promising perspectives It should be remembered that just a year ago the manufacturers of agricultural machinery (which today go through a good time, after the crisis they suffered in the '90s), formed a cluster (cluster or pole), which allows the companies based in Santa Fe and Córdoba the development of plans to improve their competitiveness. This project, known as Project for the Promotion of Clusters and Productive Networks with Impact on Regional Development, provides financial, technical and export assistance for the realization of projects involving entrepreneurs from the metal-mechanical and agroindustrial sector of southern Santa Fe. The two new agreements recently signed will allow, on the one hand, continue with the development of an axial harvester (whose prototype is being prepared by a group of Armstrong industrialists) and, on the other, the preparation of a show room, also in that city and another in Marcos Juárez, Córdoba, to exhibit equipment and tools before the visit of foreign delegations. References External Links *Proaso in Pesados Argentinos Category:Proaso Category:Companies of Argentina Category:Combine harvester manufacturers of Argentina Category:Defunct companies of Argentina